An updated IAJGS Legislative Alert has been posted for Maine, New York City and Virginia. To learn more, go to the IAJGS website for the latest alert:www.iajgs.orgclick on the left hand button “legislation” and hover your mouse and then click on Latest Alert. Scroll down the report to get to these areas:

New York City

For those interested in accessing New York City vital records from the New York City Municipal Archives, there is an attempt with legislation pending in the New York City Council that will eliminate the autonomy of New York City’s Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS). DORIS is the agency that is responsible for the records and archival documents produced by past and present City governments. The proposed legislation (Int. 486-2011) would place the currently independent agency within the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS). To follow the bill’s progress and read the bill go to: http://tinyurl.com/4orgbfb.IAJGS has reported on this legislation previously, but now there appears to be action, therefore, please read the important information from The Archivist’s Roundtable of New York on what is being done.

Maine

Maine LD 1627 has hearing scheduled in Judiciary for February 29. This bill would add marriage applications to the requirements for accessing vital records and the genealogical community has requested that marriage applications be added to the existing law permitting genealogists obtaining a researcher card.

Virginia

SB 660 Senate Substitute latest information on recent House actionand resulting tabling of SB 309 and SB 310 as their provisions are includedin SB 660. SB 660 would reduce waiting time for marriage and death records to 25 years along with other requirements.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will be meeting on Sunday, March 4, 2012 1:30-3:30 pm at Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks, CA.

The Topic: Here Comes the 1940 Census

In only a few weeks the US 1940 Census will be released--April 2, 2012 --72 years since it was taken. This census introduced sampling, organized publicity, and had an emphasis on economic questions. Some standard questions were dropped, while new ones were added. The changes were not without controversy. The census has been digitized by the National Archives and will be available on-line. However, there will not be a name index on opening day, therefore, initially, locational techniques for finding people will be necessary. Joel will discuss the 1940 enumeration and its questions and the on-line 1940 locational tools that are available at the National Archives and the Steve Morse "One Step" websites.

Speaker: Joel Weintraub: Joel volunteered for nine years at the National Archives and is an emeritus Biology Professor. He has produced census tools since 2001, and in 2002 teamed up with Stephen Morse. Joel has been working on finder aids for the 1940 census since 2005, and has given talks on that census starting in 2006. These utilities, for searching federal and NY State censuses by location, are freely available at stevemorse.org in the censusfolders.

Our Schmoozing corner, which starts 15 minutes before the meeting begins will be facilitated by Warren Blatt, Managing Director of JewishGen.org, JGSCV founding member and board member . This permits attendees to ask questions on brick walls and get directions on how to do their research.

Due to the longer presentation we will not have the 5 minute genealogical technique this month.

Our traveling library will have categories A and B books. The books are available starting 30 minutes before the program to shortly after the program. To see which books are coming to the meeting, please see our website www.jgscv.org under traveling library.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history. (www.jgscv.org).

For more information including directions to the meeting, see our website www.jgscv.org

The National Archives (USA), with its partner Archives.com, launched its new website www.1940census.archives.gov in preparation for its first-ever online U.S. census release, which will take place on April 2, 2012, at 9 a.m. (EST). The public is encouraged to bookmark the website now in order to more quickly access the 1940 census data when it goes live. No other website will host the 1940 census data on its April 2 release date.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (of which JewishGen is an affiliate) has an upcoming film series about Jews in Wales. This should be of interest to for anyone whose family found refuge in the U.K.

Something new for Ukraine SIG has arrived! After 4 months of intensive work, Ariel Parkansky, Ukraine SIG’s Website Manager and his dedicated Web Team have produced an entirely new website for you. The new site is packed with more information and easier to use than the old one.

Your new website is oriented around Town and District Pages, more than 800 of them. Each Town Page will serve as a portal to all the information we know about for that town, both on JewishGen and on other websites. With the help of our 67 Town Leaders, KehilaLinks website owners, and volunteers, we gradually will add links to more data and other information to the Town Pages. Please contact me if you can help.

Because of the new website structure, it may take some time for you to learn how to find information you seek. We have developed two documents to help you.

“Introduction to Ukraine SIG" is under “Get Started/Get Started with Ukraine SIG” on the Top Menu Bar. Please take a few minutes to read this orientation about how our SIG is organized.

“How to use our website” also is is under “Get Started/Get Started with this website” on the Top Menu Bar. This document will give you a fairly complete orientation to your new website.

A complete list of Town Leaders and KehilaLinks Owners is under About Us/Key People on the Top Menu Bar

The website has three features that are present on every page: (1) search boxes in the upper right corner, (2) the Top Menu Bar, and (3) a bottom menu bar. Town, District, and Province pages are the core of your website. They contain clickable maps and links to Document Collections, Project Lists, Related Materials, and more. Since the site is massively hyperlinked you can get to these materials in many ways.

For example, to find your town pages, try the clickable maps, starting on the Home page. Or try browsing through the alphabetic town index under “Towns and Districts” on the Top Menu Bar. Or, type your town name into the Town Search box in the upper right corner of every page. All these methods and more are explained in our “How to use our website” document.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please write to me. In the meantime, enjoy this new tool in your family history research toolbox.

IAJGS submitted a statement for the record pertaining to the February 2, 2012 hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security on the Death Master File, whose commercial version is known as the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). This was the hearing where the genealogical community was told we were not invited to testify- but couldsubmit a written a statement before the hearing record closed on February 16. The statement was submitted on February 14. Additionally, IAJGS submitted a letter to each member of the Subcommittee on February 16. Both documents are included in the updated IAJGS Legislative Alert dated February 17 which can be accessed at: http://www.iajgs.org/pramc/legislation.html and click on Legislative Alert.

The Legislative Alert also contains information on the genealogical communities response to being the "scapegoat" for identity theft at the hearing. There are links to the SSDI Action Kit on the Records Preservation and Access Committee website (fgs.org/rpac) and links to the archived video of the February 2 hearing. If you only want to get a "flavor" of how the genealogical community was perceived, listen to: Michael John Neill's extrapolation of 5 minutes of Social Security Administrator Astrue on John's blog:http://rootdig.blogspot.com/2012/02/commissioner-astrues-ssdi-comments.html

I previously posted on this forum about the US House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security hearing where the genealogical community was not invited to testify. The hearing held on February 2nd video was posted to the Subcommittee's website on February 7:http://waysandmeans.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=133.I suggest you watch the entire video as the questions and answer session is very telling where everyone is on this issue. The most telling is the Social Security Administrator answering questions on the genealogical community starting at 28:00 minutes if you don't want to listen to the entire hearing.

As a result of what happened at the hearing it is obvious that the genealogical community is under attack and we are responding with: "Stop Identity Theft NOW"- identity theft is the real culprit-not genealogists. In addition, IAJGS, FGS, NGS and RPAC submitted statements for the record before the February 16 deadline for the record closure. Please see http://fgs.org/rpac for information on what the genealogical community is doing and how you can participate and check it frequently for updates!

The House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on Social Security is proposing to completely shut down use of the SSDI by genealogists as well as other industries such as banking and insurance that rely upon its information. Such an attempt is short-sighted and runs counter to the original purpose of the SSDI: to actually combat fraud.

Because of the negativity given the genealogical community at the hearing the genealogical community, through the Records Preservation and Access Committee (RPAC) [a joint committee whose voting members are the Federation of Genealogical Societies, IAJGS and the National Genealogy Society with participating members: APG, BCG, ASG, Ancestry.com and ProQuest.] is responding with "Stop Identity Theft NOW". The issue is that the SSDI used appropriately is a mechanism to stop identity theft!

History:The House Ways and Means Committee Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing on the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), the commercial name of the Death Master File (DMF) on February 2nd. The genealogical community was told they were not invited to testify, unfortunately the Committee members and those invited to testify made the genealogy community the scapegoat for identity theft, by focusing on the public access to the SSDI on genealogical websites. One of the witnesses was a grieving father whose deceased child's social security number was stolen and used fraudulently for tax refunds by the identity thieves. He was very concerned that his deceased daughter's Social Security number could be seen on the Internet by anyone. The Social Security Administrator spoke on behalf of the Administration and during the question and answer period stated, genealogists do not need the SSDI, theycan get their information in other ways, and can wait as they do for therelease of US census for "75 years".

The subcommittee members indicated that this is a bi-partisan issue and both the Democrats and Republicans will be working together to address this in upcoming legislation.

Please share this information with your genealogical associates and societies.

An updated IAJGS Legislative Alert dated February 17 has been posted to the IAJGS website (www.IAJGS.org and click on legislation tab on left then on latest alert) . It includes new and updated information on the following states: Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Maine LD (2012) 1627 will have amendatory language to include marriage applications be compliant with the researcher card for genealogists in order that genealogists will not have to wait the prescribed 50 years to obtain those records.

New Jersey (2012) A 461 was introduced which would make available vital records to the public after the prescribed waiting periods of 100 years for birth records , 50 years for marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships, and 40 years for deaths and fetal deaths. There is no provision for genealogical copies. Members of the press are exempt from the waiting period.

Pennsylvania (2011) SB 361 Act 110 of Laws of 2011 became effective February 13, 2012 and the Department of Health has a website where records may be ordered.

Virginia (2012) SB 660 requires birth records after 100 years and marriage, divorce and annulment, death and fetal death records to become public after 25 years. There are several other bills that address similar issues with vital records and it is not yet known if SB 660 or one of the other bills will be the final vehicle.

While these are all bills within the United States, if those located outside the US know of vital records legislation or regulations being proposed, please let us know and they will also be monitored and reported upon.

1.Ever dream of a genealogical search companion?JewishGen is offering Beyond the Basics, an Independent Study class, Feb 22-March 25th 2012. Your topic, your schedule, your questions. Is this course right for you? Please read the details here, then send your qualifying paragraph to Nancy Holden any time after February 10, 2012 for consideration. Students will be notified of enrollment procedures by email (Enrollment is limited to 12-15students).

2.Breaking Down Brick Walls in the United States.This course begins on March 12th, and is designed for researchers who have completed the basics (census,vital records, ellis island), and wish to understand Naturalization, Government Records, Newspapers, Archives and other more complex research.

For both classes the details, requirements, tuition and enrollment procedures are available by clicking here. There is also a video on the bottom of our education page which describes the format of the classes. For questions, please email JewishGen-Education@lyris.JewishGen.org

From the YouTube description:
Rainbow in the Night, offers a glimpse into World War II Krakow as seen through the eyes of a survivor. Beginning with footage of a 1939 original oil painting of a synagogue being ravaged by the Nazis, shown at a private event in the survivor's home, Rainbow in the Night is an exquisitely emotional journey, as the survivor recalls first the warmth of his childhood home, then the shock and disbelief as people are forced to leave their homes for the Krakow ghetto, taken to an extermination camp and after enduring unspeakable cruelty, finally liberated. Set against a backdrop of utter despair and hopelessness, the survivor relives the inexplicable power that enabled him to persevere, the rainbow in the figurative night that promised better days to come. Culminating triumphantly with our hope for the future, the faces of hundreds of modern day Jewish children, Rainbow in the Night is both a euphoric tribute to the indomitable human spirit that enabled the Jewish people to survive against all odds and also a call to arms, to rekindle the spark of Jewish pride and unity among Jews worldwide, as we continue to rebuild the generations that were destroyed by the Nazis.

We are pleased to welcome the following webpages to JewishGen KehilaLinks We thank the owners and webmasters of these webpages for creating fitting memorials to these Kehilot (Jewish Communities) and for providing a valuable resource for future generations of their descendants.

Every day we receive new exciting proposals. At least 200 hours of lectures and meetings are already scheduled. No time to be bored whatever your area of interest or your language: every hour you will have either a lecture, a workshop, a film or a SIG meeting concerning this area.

And if you really do not find any, why not visit the resource room, the vendor’s room or one of our exhibitions? Make sure to be there on Sunday morning and not to leave until Wednesday evening because of our program will start at top speed and the latest lecture Wednesday night will be no less exciting than the ones proposed on Monday or Tuesday.

Questions about the conference?Subscribe to the Jewishgen mailing list 2012 Paris conference by clicking here.

Booking a room at the Marriott Paris Rive-gauche: click on "Hotel", Enjoy very attractive conference rates with the specific code zx4zx4a. This discount is valid for the Congress as well as 5 days before and 5 days after if you want to extend your stay in Paris.

The SIGs, and BOFs in Paris 2012Some days left to send back the application form. Write to contact@paris2012.eu

We can already announce the presence of the following SIGs and BOFs: South Africa, AustriaCzech, Belarus, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Canada, Gersig, Gersher Galicia, Kremenets District Research Group, Latvia, Litvak, Sub-Carpathia, Svencionys District Research Group, Yizkhor book project, Lodz Area Research Group, Ukraine, UK-SIG, Tunisia, Sephardic.

Tours, Travels and post conference programsWe are pleased to inform you that we have just signed a partnership agreement with Joubert Voyages (www.joubertvoyages.com), for the organization of genealogical travels before and after the Conference. Several destinations will be available, depending on the number of attendees who will register: Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary, Baltic Countries, but also Portugal or Normandy...

Joubert Voyages will also be able to organize flight and hotel reservations for people who want to travel by themself to all these countries and provide special conference rates tickets on French railways (SNCF) and on Air France flights.

Within a few days, a specific website will be opened, in order to have access to the program for each trip and to register (online or not). Our partners also plan post conference programs in Belgium and in United Kingdom. You can also now sign for one of the exciting tours our guides have planned for you in Paris during and after the Conference: www.paris2012.eu

ProgramAmong the new speakers that have been scheduled: Diana PELTS, Director of Ukraine’s Central State Historical Archives in L’viv will be sponsored by the Lucille Gudis memorial Fund, Georg GAUGUSH will be sponsored by the AustriaCzech SIG, Bozena KUBIT, Head of the Ethnography and Silesia Department of the Willa Caro Museum in Gliwice Poland, (formerly Gleiwitz, Prussia) will be sponsored by the GerSig, Nicholas EVANS is sponsored by the UKSig and by the LatviaSig and many other…..

The Catskills Institute (http://catskills.brown.edu/index.shtml) along with other organizations**, is sponsoring two paired writing contests--fiction and non-fiction as part of a book project, Summer Haven: How the Catskills Experienced the Holocaust, edited by Holli Levitsky Professor of English and Director of Jewish Studies at Loyola Marymount University, and. Phil Brown, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at Brown University, which will provide a locus for literature exploring the experience of the Holocaust in the Catskills.

**The contest is sponsored by the Catskills Institute, Jewish Book Council, the "1939" Club, the Sigi Ziering Institute at American Jewish University, Brown University Judaic Studies Program, the Jewish Studies Program at Loyola Marymount University, the Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Symposium, and AskAbigail.com.

The Catskills represent a central facet of the American Jewish experience, most often associated with comedy, food, a unique vacation style. Holocaust survivors occupy a space central to, and yet at the same time apart from, this community.

The New York Times has an article on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the long delays by government agencies in complying, The Courts have ruled the agencies must comply in 20 days, but some agencies have taken 20 years. Unfortunately, the National Archives has a request pending since 1992. There is a chart comparing different agencies, if you click where it says "multimedia" ( on the left- below the bar graph) and a long wait for information--which shows the most egregious agencies, including the National Archives, with the oldest pending request and in 2010 that request was 6656 days old.http://tinyurl.com/6ox276v

I have previously written on this forum about Virginia HR 272 [death and marriage], SB 309 [marriage records] and SB 310 [death records] which reduce the "closed" period for marriages and deaths held by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) from 50 to 25 years. The Virginia House and Senate have unanimously passed the bills in their respective houses, requiring the House bill to be approved by the Senate, and the Senate bills by the House, before being sent on to the Governor. If you want to look at the bills actions go to: http://legis.state.va.us/ and type in the bill numbers.

We have been advised by the former president of the Virginia Genealogical Society, Peter Broadbent, that another vital records bill will be introduced next week: SB 660, in the Senate Education and Health Subcommittee on Health Care replacing the existing placeholder billhttp://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?121+ful+SB660+pdf. The replacement bill will make it clear that after the "closed" period ends for vital records, these records should go to the Library of Virginia like any other archival records, ii) direct VDH to create an online vital recordsindex which is publicly available online through a contract with a private entity at no direct cost to the Commonwealth of Virginia, and iii) specify that the index will be capable of being linked to the underlying digital documents (if those are public) by the Library of Virginia.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) will be meeting on Sunday, February 12, 2012 1:00-5:00 pm at the Los Angeles Family History Library 10741 Santa Monica Blvd. West Los Angeles (on grounds of the LDS Temple ). Parking is free.

Note: This special program is open only to current (2012) dues paid members of JGSCV. Anyone may join or renew their JGSCV membership at door. Single membership $25.00; family $30.00 (two people residing in the same household).

Program: Assisted Research Afternoon at the L.A. Family HistoryLibrary (LAFHL)

Experienced JGSCV members and Family History Library volunteers will be available to help members get the most out of the L.A. Family History Library's resources, including computer assistance with many popular genealogical databases including Ancestry.com (full access), Fold3.com, Heritage Quest, World Vital Records, Godfrey Memorial Library on-line resources and more! The LAFHL has 86 computers (PCs not MACs)allowing more people to use them simultaneously. There are the Jewish microfilms of Eastern Europe and a selection of others, and maps and gazetteers. Bring your research documents with you and bring a flash drive if you want to download electronic images of online images. Hard copying is also available.Our sister JGS, JGSLA's library is available for research at the LAFHL.

Barbara Algaze, volunteer at the LAFHL, and librarian for the JGSLA, will give an introduction to the resources at the L.A. Family History Library starting at 1:30 p.m.

Remember to bring some small bills and coins in case you wish to make copies of anything off the computers, books, journals or microfilms. We will have very limited cash on hand to make change.

Directions:The LAFHL is located at: 10741 Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles on the grounds of the LDS (Mormon) Temple. From the 405 freeway get off at Santa Monica Blvd. and go east to Manning Ave. Turn north on Manning Ave, make the first left into the LDS Temple compound, proceed right until reaching the Visitor's Center then, park along the fence. The entrance to the LAFHL is on the right (east) side of the Visitor's Center. The library is on the lower floor of the FHL-there are stairs and an elevator from the first floor.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County is dedicated to sharing genealogical information, techniques and research tools with anyone interested in Jewish genealogy and family history.

For more information on JGSCV and the meeting, see our website www.jgscv.org

Here we are again, at the end of the month, the activity in which can be categorized with some endings and also some new beginnings in our Yizkor Book Project.

As far as endings go, this last month we completely uploaded all the entries received from the "Litvak Heritage" series that were generously donated by Joel Alpert and Josef Rosin. Together with the existing online entries, I believe we now have a remarkable amount of information on a myriad of Lithuanian communities but we certainly aren't stopping here and even more translations are going on for these and other communities, as we "speak".

Amongst the new beginnings that took place this month was the grateful receipt of the complete translation of two books and, hopefully, they will be totally online within the next few weeks. The first donation is for the Csenger, Hungary Yizkor Book which was kindly donated by Stanley and Renee Fishkind. The second book, in English and Polish, is for a book on Lopuszno, Poland and was kindly donated by its editors - Marek Maciagowski and Yaacov Kotlicki.

Apart from these, a number of new projects were begun and if you would like to get involved in any one of the projects listed below or if there is a project that has been something you have been considering and you don't know how to begin, please contact me and I'll assist you, however I can.

Another new exciting beginning is the first Yizkor Book translation to come out as a hard copy through our Yizkor Books in Print Project which is being led by the untiring and resourceful Joel Alpert and the many volunteers working with him. The first book is the 'Destruction of Czenstochow' Yizkor book for Czestochowa, Poland and as soon as it's made available, we will let you know where it may be purchased.

In the meantime, if you are a coordinator who has a completely translated Yizkor book, we invite you to contact Joel whose contact information can be found at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/ybip.html Of course, if you would like to be involved in this project in any way, he would also like to hear from you and you can see what tasks are required on this same page.

The final new beginnings were the addition of the Halmeu, Romania Yizkor book to our list of Translation funds and in the near future it will be joined by the Serock, Poland and Sarny, Ukraine Yizkor Book Projects.

Note that a very positive way of helping to see translations placed online is by supporting this project or one of the many Translation Funds which have been set up to bring about the professional translation of the Yizkor books. If you feel able to support this effort, please go to the Yizkor Book JewishGen-erosity page: